Re: Sierra 2 - Understanding REW Results
Originally Posted by
Agd
I tried a more aggressive toe in (say 25 degrees?) to get the face of the speaker further away from the sidewall and it produced a more 'present' treble.
Getting your speakers off the walls isn't so much about frequency response as it is about the timing of reflections. So-called "rapid reflections" smear the stereo image among other artifacts. And the fact that your setup is so susceptible to toe-in is an indicator of this due to the heavy amount of side wall reflections you're current speaker placement creates.
I'm not saying it's bad. If you like the results, it's by definition good. But understanding what's going on can only help you obtain the results you want.
Originally Posted by
Agd
Regarding addition of a center channel, the center image with just the LR is nothing short of amazing. Defies physics that I can sit anywhere on my 4 seat couch and still have a pinpoint image center of the room. ... If the image is already anchored to the screen is there anything else to gain?
I used to think this too. Used to watch movies with just my two stereo speakers forming a "phantom center" like you are doing. Did this for years. Was perfectly happy.
Until... I tried a Sierra S2 center. Holy Cats! What a vast improvement! Made placement of dialog much more solid and centered with the video image (and stopped what little wander it had in the stereo image also). Increased intelligibility of the dialog quite a bit, especially low volume level dialog like whispers. Unloading the L/R pair of the dialog made the music and effects cleaner (similar but different to how adding a sub unloads the L/R of the heavy lifting and therefore cleans up the L/R sound). And most important of all, had my wife asking why I hadn't done this sooner.
Of course, YMMV. But I'm not going back to a phantom center. Instead I'm looking to upgrade from my current S2 center to the Horizon center.
"If it sounds good, it is good." -- Duke Ellington